Being an Entrepreneur is the most rewarding journey you will undertake. This blog shares my experiences of almost 3 decades of founding and growing technology ventures and the many lessons I have learned along the way.

07/07/2009

We reward allocation not innovation

There is a lot of talk about how the economy is starting to recover from its near fatal heart attack last year. What we have here is what is commonly referred to as the 'zombie economy', its an economy in a state of suspense neither living nor dead, no value is being created , debt is just passed from one bankrupt bank to another, we reward allocation not innovation.

That's why I've gotten involved with a number of social enterprises. This is one of the few market areas that positively encourages innovation to drive change in areas where it is most needed.

Yesterday I had the good fortune to meet a social entrepreneur who really is making a difference. Steve Sloan who is the CEO of Galvmed www.galvmed.org has earned an interesting reputation mainly because he secured a huge donation to his company through the Melissa and Bill Gates Foundation.

You want innovation? Think about this. Galvmed protects livestock and saves human lives by developing products and sustainable partnerships to help poor, rural farmers and livestock keepers around the world.

Animal agriculture is a considerable, but often overlooked, economic driver in the developing world. For nearly 700 million people living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia, livestock represent the most important source of physical, economic and social livelihood. Survival for these people depends on the health of their farm animals. Developing and ensuring access to vaccines and other animal health products is a key to increasing the productivity and value of livestock and improving the lives of farmers in the developing world

Animal-borne illnesses pose a significant threat to human lives in the developing world. Some diseases, such as porcine cysticercosis and tick-borne diseases, are zoonotic and can be passed from animals to humans.Farm animals represent a critical and often sole-source level of economic security for people in the developing world. People use their income from livestock to trade for food and basic health services. Successful livestock management forms a key stepping stone to sustainability and economic growth. Despite a clear link between livestock health and economic improvement among rural farmers, only 4 percent of official development assistance has been invested in agricultural development over the past 15 years.

This is where the so called brave new world we are headed towards has to focus. Helping to eradicate these issues will ripple throughout our entire economic structure , we must learn that the current imbalance of the world's wealth has been a major cause of the position we have found ourselves in.